Irene's Last Waltz: An Irene Adler Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Carole Nelson Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Irene Adler | Publication Date: November 15, 1994

Seeking recuperation at their Paris home, Irene Adler, her husband Godfrey, and their companion Miss Nell find their plans interrupted by royal princess whose loveless marriage and puzzling dilemma threatens several European nations. Reprint. PW. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Victorian sometime-sleuth Irene Norton begins her fifth adventure, following Irene at Large , in a Paris fashion salon. On their first visit to Maison Worth, Irene and her companion, narrator Nell Huxleigh, are implored by the Queen of Bohemia to determine why Wilhelm, King of Bohemia (who once sought Irene as his mistress), is ignoring her. On their second visit they are asked to investigate the murder of one of the 1200 "bead-girls" who are employed by the designer. Shortly thereafter, Irene, her husband Godfrey and Nell are summoned to the estate of the Rothschilds and engaged to act as "eyes and ears" for the prominent banking family--in Bohemia. They begin their journey to Prague with Sherlock Holmes, who is investigating the bead-girl's death, only a half-step behind. They arrive in a city that is being haunted by the Golem, the mythical clay monster, and find the King in the clutches of a mysterious and beautiful woman named Tatyana. Gothic atmosphere and political intrigue abound as scenes shift from castle to graveyard. Like a master seamstress herself, Douglas threads these elements--and the flashing exchanges between Holmes and Norton, whose mutual antipathy is somewhat reduced here--into a credible and finely crafted whole.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Let lesser lights like Sherlock Holmes investigate the servile murders of two seamstresses at Charles Worth's exclusive Paris salon. There's choicer fare for Holmes's nemesis/love Irene Adler (Irene at Large, 1992, etc.): a charge from Worth's client Queen Clotilde of Bohemia to find out why her husband, the former lover who brought Irene into the Holmes canon, declines to consummate their marriage (``I believed I knew what that meant, in a general sense,'' observes Irene's demure amanuensis Nell Huxleigh), and an urgent request from Baron Alphonse Rothschild to look into the reports of a resurgent Golem of Prague. Irene's dealings with the King and the Golem (whose mysteries turn out to be unsurprisingly but logically connected to each other, and ultimately to the murders as well) bring her up against the King's treacherous Russian mistress Tatyana; Allegra Stanhope, the forthright (``An event of ghastly import has transpired! Clotilde is prostrate'') young niece of Nell's missing love Quentin; and, inevitably, Holmes himself, whom she battles to a chivalrous draw. Beneath the relentless infatuation with its intrepid heroine, this is the best--luckily, since it's also by far the longest--of Irene's adventures to date. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (November 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812517032
• ISBN-13: 978-0812517033
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,850,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reprint of a wonderful book., January 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Another Scandal in Bohemia: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is actually a reprint of a book under a different title. The original title was Irene's Last Waltz, and it is the 4th in the series. In it, Irene Adler Norton, whom we first met in Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "A Scandal in Bohemia," returns to Bohemia to discover that an impostor has been put in the place of the real king and that a nocturnal monster is stalking the capital city.

Before reading this one, you may wish to read the previous books in the series in this order: Good Night, Mr. Holmes; Good Morning, Irene; and Irene At Large. (As far as I have been able to determine these have not been reissued under different titles but may be in the future). After this book, there are two more books: Chapel Noir and Castle Rouge.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for Sherlockians; fun Victorian mystery for others, June 12, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Irene's Last Waltz: An Irene Adler Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Add another point if you're a Sherlockian, two if you're a fan of Irene. Irene Adler, "the woman" to Sherlock Holmes, is the heroine of this tale, which is written as if narrated by her friend Penelope. A fun romp through 19th-century Europe, involving Irene's erstwhile suitor, the King of Bohemia, and a dastardly Russian plot. Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson have a few cameos, including one great one at the end that made the book for me.

My main criticism is that it's a little heavy-handed on the name- dropping side; Irene is acquainted with scads of famous historical personages. This actually makes it harder to suspend disbelief and accept that both Holmes and Irene were historical personages, as the book attempts to convey. Well worth reading, more than once for some.

Other books in the series (in order; this is the fourth):
Good Night, Mr. Holmes; Good Morning, Irene; Irene At Large

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irene faces off against high fashion, high society, and a very tall legend, August 21, 2005

By 

F. Orion Pozo "Orion Pozo" (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Another Scandal in Bohemia: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler (Mass Market Paperback)

Originally titled Irene's Last Waltz, Another Scandal in Bohemia is the 4th in a series of historic mysteries based on a character from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story, A Scandal In Bohemia. Carole Nelson Douglas takes this character, Irene Adler, the only woman to catch Holmes' romantic interests, and has her go on to pursue her own career as an investigating detective. With Penelope Huxley, a country parson's daughter, as her Dr. Watson to write down her exploits, Adler has married and lives in Paris.

In this novel Irene returns to Prague to once again help the Bohemian royal family with a vexing problem - the king has not consumated his marriage of 9 months. Also the legendary Golum is once again walking the streets of this ancient city. Along the way she becomes involved with the historic and literary personages of Charles Frederick Worth (the founder of Haute Couture), Sherlock Holmes, and Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (international financier).

Carole Nelson Douglas fills this series with wonderful historic detail - especially about the wardrobes of Irene and Penelope. She also livesn up the narrative by opposing the personalities her two main characters, the flamboyant and independent Irene and the fastidious and proper Penelope.

In this book she looks at the working conditions of young women in Paris and the position of Jews in late 19th century Europe. A wonderful volume in the series.